What do you do with your luggage when flying?

[Dogdaycommeth]

Inspired by another thread...and as its holiday season...

Are you a cabin bags only or prefer everything in hold luggage? Does it change depending on why your flying? (Im hoping the poll posts by the way)

Me personally I am a hold luggage person irrespective of why im flying. I cant stand trying to get through a busy airport with a cabin bag plus a handbag. I travel a lot for work and colleagues get irritated as I always put luggage in the hold.

Or do you take no luggage and wear everything possible at once?

Also the number of times ive used the word luggage in the above has just highlighted to me what a odd word it is.

Cabin bag only for up to 4 days. Hold plus cabin bag for longer. Cabin bag is a rucksack that is easy to carry and squishes under the seat. No charge, no queuing, love it.

For a longer holiday hold makes sense - more clothes, more chargers, bigger bottles of sunscreen, more books. Plus if long haul it's usually no extra charge. But my trusty rucksack still has enough essentials for a couple of days - toiletries, clothes, swimwear and flip flops, just in case the hold luggage is delayed.

I remember committing what was deemed a cardinal sin of checking a bag on a work trip when I was in my late 20s, in my defence we were there for a week and no one had mentioned this ‘cabin bag only’ etiquette! I was also the only woman.
I got my ‘cabin bag only’ routine down to a fine art in that job, including switching to an entirely powder based makeup routine and eliminating all liquid based beauty products. Now when I fly I always check a bloody bag because I’m in charge of my own time and travel

Anything longer than a couple of days we check a bag in. Makes everything easier.

I was the queen of budget travel / backpacking / slumming it to save $$ in my 20s, now in my 30s I’m all about comfort, which includes getting on the plane with only a small bag.

Just landed in beautiful Ireland from London on a two day visit. First time ever I’ve brought a cabin sized, pull-along case but I’ll be honest, paying to put luggage in the hold is preferable and obvs essential if you’ve a suitcase and are going for longer x

In answer to your title... I take it with me.

Some people dont.
A friend of mine got collected by her boyfriend and when they got to the airport she pulled her case out and he got out ... well nothing.
He had a pair of swim trunks in his pocket and his passport in the other and basically said he would wash and re-use anything. They were off to Spain for 5 days.
She dumped him shortly after they came back.

Usually hold plus cabin. DHs bag of medicines (plus extras in case of delays) plus a medical device he needs takes up quite a lot of his cabin bag. No way would that stuff be going in the hold, we’ve had too many instances of checked luggage being delayed. Usually go for at least 10 days generally in cooler weather so need a reasonable amount of heavier clothing.

Depends! Anything under a week then cabin bags only. For a week or longer then we would take hold bags - how many depends on what we are doing, for a ski or dive holiday we would take 3 bags between 4 of us. For a backpacker type trip we take 2 large rucksacks for the 4 of us, and each carry a daypack on to the plane. I would say we take less baggage than most people do, but I won’t ruin a holiday by insisting on cabin bags only!

You can take a medical device, eg a CPAP machine, in addition to normal hand luggage allowances on most/all airlines including Ryanair etc. You are supposed to fill in a form online but in dozens of flights, no-one's ever questioned it in DPs case, he usually puts all his 'unhealthy middle aged man' medication (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes medication etc) in that bag too.

Short-haul / short-trip cabin baggage only. Long-haul / long trip hold plus cabin baggage. Both plus laptop / camera bag (depending if work or holiday).

Depends how long I’m going for, and whether I need to be prepared for hot and colder weather. I really resent having to buy e.g. a jumper or jacket, when I’ve got plenty at home.
If self catering with a washing machine, I can usually manage with a cabin bag.

Dh, OTOH, only ever takes a cabin bag, even if he’s going for 3 weeks. He was in the habit for work trips, of sending any dirties to the laundry first thing every morning, on expenses.
It did get very expensive when we were on holiday in Australia, and the laundry was charging $15 Oz for a pair of socks, and this was at least 10 years ago!

If you are prepared to pay extra for luggage in the hold, have you tried any of the premium services

https://www.sendmybag.com/shipping-luggage/ship-luggage-to-hotel/

I do a lot of US-UK travel and the airlines lost my baggage so often (my US airport is vv small and often the last plane of the night has something going wrong with it so that not all the bags make it) that I am a die-hard cabin only person and happier for it.

I've only ever done one trip without hold luggage and I hated it!

We were travelling in a group of 12 and everyone else was opting for cabin bags only as we had a bit of a time pinch getting to our accommodation so I didn't want to be the one holding everyone up.

One of my issues is I have rubbish upper body strength and hate lugging a bag up and down plane steps/through the terminal.

I am also a chronic over packer and that's just how I like it!

I much prefer hold luggage. Cabin baggage is a pain, can’t take all the toiletries etc you want, bags are massive and end up halfway down the plane from where you’re sitting because there’s no room in the overhead lockers, can’t keep getting up and down to take stuff out when you need it. Suitcase in the hold and a small rucksack that fits under the seat is perfect.

Know what you mean..

The other, very rare, but sometimes happens curve ball is the late evening delay that rolls on and ends up as a "we've cancelled, you are going to hotels, come back tomorrow when, we'll try again.... oh but your hold bags are staying on-board overnight...."

In the EU it takes longer to get through passport control than it used to do it's untrue that you will be waiting around for your luggage. Every trip I've made for years the cases were waiting by the time I got through.

I take hold and hand luggage. Hold because I like to take nice things on holiday and my medication needs to be in hand luggage but I keep that small.

friends in their 70s backpacked round SEAsia for weeks last year and only took carry on. they never check a bag, ever.

I prefer, especially when changing planes to just put it all in the hold.

weekend trips, just carry on...

I’m pretty sure DH would rather pay for cabin baggage than do any extra paperwork, and on easyJet you get fast track with it too. But thanks, it’s useful info for anyone who didn’t know this.

If it’s a week or more, DH and I will share a suitcase and put it in the hold. Less than a week, just a carry-on bag.

Team cabin bags here.

Have you never had it go missing @Dogdaycommeth ? I loathe having to check hold bags and then wait at the other end.

I have a decent luggage set that stacks nicely and is no trouble to wheel through the airport. I can do a two week holiday including fins, mask & snorkel with just an overhead and an under seat bag.

You obviously never go on packages where it’s a bus transfer then.

Unless I'm going somewhere that needs a lot of technical kit (like climbing mountains) I just pack the regulation size underseat bag.

It takes a bit of getting used to and you need to be prepared to wear things more than once, I wear all the bulky things like jeans (or a business suit) to travel, but it's lovely not to bring loads of laundry home.

Rucksack that fits under the seat in front. That's it.

We've done many, many 2-week, long haul holidays like this. Recently we have been able to splash out on business class, but we still stick to the rucksacks as we often then take internal flights/sea-planes and those have luggage restrictions.

Only time we have checked in luggage was going abroad (short-haul) for DCs wedding.

I have a grey rucksack I have travelled all around the world with. It does a fortnight for me or a week for me and my 2yo son in summer (whilst the weather is warm and we don't need extra layers).

But we mostly relax a bit and have one but hold bag if we're going as a family.